OC resident and amputee Ironman triathlete Sarah Reinertsen is preparing to run the Boston Marathon next Monday, April 21. ¬†This is the 1st anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings, and over the past year Sarah's been mentoring bombing survivor Heather Abbott (who lost her legs due to the bombing) and has been helping her since ¬†learn how to walk again using a prosthetic.

Sarah Reinertsen was in Trader Joe’s, just another shopper in Orange County, when a text message hit her phone. Then another, and then there were more than she could keep up with.

One read, “I pray you’re not in Boston.”

It was April 15, Patriots Day in New England, and the annual marathon and adjoining festivities were underway until the two bombs turned a city into a chaos that lasted for days.

Monday will be the first anniversary of the tragedy. Reinertsen is there this time, and she will be as inspired as anyone by the Boston Strong resilience.

It’s Reinertsen’s turn to “pay it forward,” she says, after nearly three decades of being just that kind of inspiration.

“Running is an important life skill,” Reiertsen said. “You should know that you’re not limited. If you want to run, if you want to chase your 3-year-old daughter again, play in the company softball game, let’s get you running.

“It’s knowing it’s possible, knowing you can get back to that.”

Reinertsen will run the marathon, and it will be her second time doing so. She first ran in 2004, an achievement few can call their own. Except she does it with one leg, and she will be crossing the finish line with bombing victim Heather Abbott, also an amputee.

This won’t be a race, it will be a triumph for Abbott and other victims, their friends, their families. Reinertsen may have a jaw-dropping number of triathlons and marathons under her belt already since she had her leg amputated when she was 7 years old.

The 2014 Boston Marathon is no race against the clock, it’s a run for the ages. Reinertsen, consumed over the years with wanting to be perceived as normal not only to others but to herself, will treat the run with a different eye.

“I’m going to be tweeting from the course,” she said. “A lot of people come here to race Boston. “This one, I want to savor it, see it more as a celebration to heal and move forward. I have some tweets pre-drafted and I’m going to attach some photos along the way. I want to bring people with me as much as I can.”

Believe it or not, Reinertsen finds a marathon a touch more difficult to endure than an Ironman triathlon, which concludes with a marathon after a 2.4-mile swim and a 112-mile bike ride.

She knows her body, she understands the physics of her Ossur prosthesis to the millimeter, and she knows that somewhere between the 18- and 22-mile marker she’ll hit the notorious wall. She’s ready for it.

“I’m just going to think about the hours of really hard pain the people went through,” Reinertsen said. “I’ve seen the photo essays, some of the videos, I know a little bit more of the chaos and the hurt that went on for hours, weeks and months.

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“These Boston survivors may have been inspired by me, but they will be the inspiration on race day to me.”

Three people were killed and 264 were injured that day. Some were in the race, many were spectators. There will be runners in this year’s race who may have spent a lifetime of enjoying the tradition without participating, but will take some part in a race they never thought they’d be in.

On Friday, Reinertsen gathered with competitors and spectators in Boston at a Nike event. The shoe and apparel company will be donating money to the Challenged Athletes Foundation based on anyone running that day, $1 per mile from Twitter followers and $100 per mile in a Nike store.

Today, Abbott will run in the warmup race, then join Reinertsen and others a quarter-mile from the finish to cross the line together.

Abbott will also be greeted by Erin Chatham, the one who found her after the second explosion. Erin’s husband, former New England Patriots linebacker Matthew Chatham, carried Abbott to safety.

“Heather was not really a runner before,” Reinertsen said. “So many are more active as an amputees. some people get ba ck on ski slopes, play basketball. We’re just there to open the door and share the possibility.

“Whatever your thing, we’re there to support.”

Reinertsen knows to expect only one thing as she crosses the finish line.

“I have thought about that,” she said. “It’s funny, sometimes I’m a sensitive girl, I wear my emotions on my sleeve and I have been known to cry when I get to the finish so I wouldn’t be too surprised at that. But, sometimes I’m too dehydrated.

“All those friends and family will be there at the finish. Once I see that, forget it. Waterworks.”